Pakistan floods—due to stationary jet streams

Wild fires in western Russia that resulted in doubling of death rates in Moscow, a heat wave that killed 60 persons in Japan, unusual weather patterns in the US and Canada, and the end of warm weather spell in Europe as well as the rains that caused massive flooding and a large number of deaths in Pakistan may all be connected.

According to meteorologists, this could be due to the unusual behaviour of the jet stream that resulted in weather systems becoming stationary, instead of moving across the globe as they normally do. This resulted in skyrocketing of temperatures in western Russia and extreme rainfalls accompanied by flooding and devastation in Pakistan.

The entire atmosphere does not travel at the same speed as the earth’s surface. A part of it travels faster in the form of jet streams. The main jet streams on our planet are westerly winds; fast flowing currents of air between seven to 12 kilometres above ground. These jet streams flow west to east and drag weather systems along.

They simultaneously also move north and south in the form of a wave and greatly influence weather patterns. The reason for this north-south movement is partly due to the planet’s rotation on its axis and partly due to atmospheric heating due to solar radiation.

These jet streams can experience ‘blocking events’ by opposing winds which push westwards (‘Rossby waves’). This collision can result in the weather systems standing still for weeks instead of moving along, thereby causing huge devastations by flooding due to continuous rains or prolonged heat waves.

This is apparently what happened in Pakistan. In June this year the normal path of the jet stream was blocked by an opposing flow of wind, causing massive downpours of rain over Pakistan. This was accompanied by seasonal monsoons, the two making a lethal combination. Some 360 years of records on solar activities indicate that such blocking events may be due to low solar activity (Mike Lockwood, University of Reading, UK, Environmental Letters, in press).

It appears that with global warming, such events will recur. Pakistan must be prepared before such floods happen again, which could well be next year or the year after. We must see beyond our noses. The reconstruction effort must not be confined to rebuilding of destroyed villages but should include construction of dams on an emergency basis along with strengthening of bridges and embankments so that when this next happens, we are prepared and can collect and use the water for socio-economic development. The huge amount of water, if stored in dams, can be a source of prosperity in the form of cheap electricity and improved agriculture.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that 3.2 million hectares of standing crops and 200,000 heads of cattle have already been lost, and with more flooding expected, the disaster can continue to grow. The sediments carried by flood waters have to be cleared from the lands before new plantations can be made, and the immediate challenge is whether this can be done in time to plant the winter wheat crops. The irrigation systems have been badly mauled due to silting caused by the floods.

This is a truly deadly race against time. If the wheat crop cannot be planted, then huge food shortages, famines and civil unrest may lie ahead.

Flying submarines

DARPA (Pentagon's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency) which has a $3 billion annual budget is investigating the possibility of developing flying submarines. These will fly like a plane but dive into water and submerge themselves whenever required.

Submarines are constructed with very heavy skeletons so that they can withstand the enormous pressures at great depths. Aeroplanes, however, must be as light as possible so they have to be agile and fly with as little engine power as possible. Combining these two opposing concepts is a huge challenge. With the remarkable developments in new much stronger light weight composite materials, the concept may soon turn into a reality.

Emotional robots

A team of scientists working at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK working with a consortium of European companies and universities in Europe have developed feeling robots! These robots can sense feelings from human expressions and also express their own feelings. They can develop strong bonds of attachment with the person that they are looking after and these bonds can grow with time. They can express joy, sadness, anger, frustration, fear, excitement and pride, depending on the situations that they encounter.

The project entitled, ‘Feelix Growing’ involves teaching robots to react in the same way as humans through copying how children learn to respond emotionally.

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